Ya Heard: 50’s legacy: Fulfulled or full of it?

Dennis Winn/Columnist
Published: July 10, 2008

"The world is so fast that there are days when the person who says it can't be done is interrupted by the person who is doing it."

-- Anonymous

It was summer 1999 and the east coast hip-hop scene had hit rock bottom. Hip hop as whole, for that matter, was in a blind transition. The concrete of the culture was cracked at the foundation and all the elements that made up hip hop rushed to fill the huge hole left by the deaths of Tupac and Biggie that occurred no more than three years prior.

Hip hop's 1999 varsity roster consisted of names such as Eminem, Nas, Busta Rhymes, The Hot Boyz, Mobb Deep, Dr. Dre, DMX and so on and so on. Jay Z was riding the success of his mainstream-accepted "Volume 2," but the streets weren't all that impressed with Jigga man's second LP.

Hip hop was changing, and everyone was on edge to see where it would go. Eminem had just dropped one the most incredible debuts in hip-hop history, but due to obvious reasons, some hardcore fans were still struggling to just accept his debut for what it was … ingenious.

Gone were the stairwell images and candy-painted low riders that dominated the better part of the decade, in was the money—and lots of it! It was obvious the genre was beginning to attract enormous profit and everybody wanted in. If one thing was for sure during this time, it was "to H-E-double-hockey-sticks with the artistic integrity—show me the check!" This outlook began to take hip hop to new heights, but at the price of authenticity.

Then, one summer day while listening to the radio (mind you this is 1999, before I became sick of radio monotony) I heard this kid comically rhyming about robbing some of hip hop's most well known artists. The content of the song is not what immediately gained my attention, but the ease and presence this emcee bestowed to the track…

"Aiyyo the bottom line is I'ma crook with a deal

If my record don't sell I'ma rob and steal

You better recognize [brotha] I'm straight from the street

These industry cats startin' to look like somethin' to eat"

I was tuned in from that moment on! Later I found out this particular emcee went by the name 50 Cent and I knew then he had something special. He was cool, calm, collected and literally putting his life on the line to realize his dream in hip hop. Unlike a number of recent artists at the time that seemed to have piggy-backed their way into stardom, 50 possessed a quality that made the listener feel his struggle.

But before that was to happen 50 was shot in his neighborhood of Queens, N.Y. Thus, leaving the then widely unknown

emcee to put his career on hold for the moment. If 50 were to quit then, it would have upset very few people and the world would never have known the charismatic emcee that has presented us with quite a few No. 1 hits. However, the story didn't end there.

In 2003, after recovering from injuries and setting the underground mixtape scene on fire, 50's debut album "Get Rich or Die Tryin" was released to great anticipation. Signed and enhanced by Dr. Dre and Eminem, 50's debut went down as one the greatest debuts in music history. Cuts like "In da club," "21 Questions" and "Many Men" instantly turned 50 into a household superstar. But then things began to change. While 50's celebrity grew to astronomical heights, the Queens emcee began to alter his style. A change that he addressed on "In da Club" by stating "go head and switch the style up, and if they hate, let 'em hate and watch the money pile up." And pile up is exactly what his bank account did. Sold out tours, multi-platinum albums, and en-dorsements proved that the kid from "How to Rob" had made it big. The man was literally calling his own shots and the world listened.

Fast forward to 2008 and it appears the same lyrical champion that ushered in a new millennium is now on the downside of his career. With his last album's less than stellar acceptance and his recently released G-Unit album putting up lackluster numbers, it seems the hip-hop community is slowly moving Curtis to the left. The style that was switched up made him millions upon millions, but the career may be short lived.

Unless 50 makes an incredible transformation his story may be similar to that of Mike Tyson's: strong, ferocious and previously unseen champion, but over in a flash. It may be true he lacks qualities of a Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield, Jay Z or LL Cool J, which kept them a championship contender.

HIP HOP TRIVIA

What Biggie song are the following lyrics from?

"This rule is so under rated; keep your family and business completely separated."

Be the seventh person to send me an e-mail with the correct answer to this week's trivia question and receive two free AMC movie tickets courtesy of the Potomac News and Manassas Journal Messenger. Remember to give us the name of the song as well … until next week, Peace!

Dennis Winn can be reached at 703-200-4928 or .